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Like the title says, I'm planning to sign up and run my first TORCS race this weekend at Sand Hills. I've been practicing on my YZ125 for a while now, and figured I would give a hare scramble a shot. It looks like Open D is the beginner class, so I will sign up for that and shoot to finish the race.

I know there are some guys on here that are big into TORCS. Any words of advice that would help me for the weekend? I've never even attended a hare scramble as a spectator, so all advice is appreciated!

Thanks, that thread has some good info in it!
There are couple basic questions I have on how the race works:
1) Does the race go by laps or time? I see a lot of people say the races last 1.5 hours-ish. Is that just based on their speed, # of laps and length of track?
2) Do I need a transponder or anything?

Thanks, that thread has some good info in it!
There are couple basic questions I have on how the race works:
1) Does the race go by laps or time? I see a lot of people say the races last 1.5 hours-ish. Is that just based on their speed, # of laps and length of track?
2) Do I need a transponder or anything?

Sorry if these are dumb questions

1. It will depend on the length of the lap and when you cross through the checkpoint. If you complete three laps before the clock expires, you will finish your fourth lap.... Essentially making your race one hour & some change.

2. It has been a long time since I raced a torcs race, but I do not believe you need a transponder.

Finished the race and came in 6th out of 17 in Open D. Not too shabby. All I was shooting for was to finish the race. If I would have come out a little more aggressive, I might have done even better. My fastest lap time was the 2nd fastest lap of the race in my class, just 7 seconds slower than the pace of the guy that took 1st in class. Was dog tired at the end of the race, but it was an absolute blast and I can't wait to sign up for another! Here is some footage from gopro:

Looks like you had a ton of fun, did you start in gear or in neutral? You'll want to have the bike in gear and possibly second gear. Not sure if you can get away with that with a 125.

I did have a ton of fun!
I started in neutral because my clutch hangs up just a little, so even with the clutch pulled in, the bike can sometimes be tough to start in 1st gear.

My plan was to let everyone pull away and I was just going to follow the pack since it was my first race and I wasn't planning to be competitive. That's why I didn't care about my start. But after about the 3rd turn, I thought the pack was going a little slower than I expected, so I decided to pick up the pace.

Next race I will probably start in 1st gear, and try to get out front a little better. It would have been nice to get in front of some of the guys before getting into the sand an woods sections. I was getting held up a little bit.

I did have a ton of fun!
I started in neutral because my clutch hangs up just a little, so even with the clutch pulled in, the bike can sometimes be tough to start in 1st gear.

My plan was to let everyone pull away and I was just going to follow the pack since it was my first race and I wasn't planning to be competitive. That's why I didn't care about my start. But after about the 3rd turn, I thought the pack was going a little slower than I expected, so I decided to pick up the pace.

Next race I will probably start in 1st gear, and try to get out front a little better. It would have been nice to get in front of some of the guys before getting into the sand an woods sections. I was getting held up a little bit.

I would suggest you do several practice starts. You can practice as much or as little as you want during practice. Test using 1st and 2nd but using first will require a quick shift just after launching.

Main thing is to ride your race, I know people that start and slow and the just roll through the pack. Other people get out front early on and fall back as the race continues. You just gotta do you.

98Yamaha/ArkansasDave - If either of you are going to TORCS next weekend (10/7-10/8), let me know how the track is (Spoaks MX), it's in Lockhart and it's a new venue. I tried to look it up but can't find much information on it. Thanks in advance!

__________________
Dirt is for riding, the street merely gets you there.

98Yamaha/ArkansasDave - If either of you are going to TORCS next weekend (10/7-10/8), let me know how the track is (Spoaks MX), it's in Lockhart and it's a new venue. I tried to look it up but can't find much information on it. Thanks in advance!

I plan on going for this race. I can't find any information on the place at all either. I just typed in the address on the flyer into google maps and I see a motocross track nearby, but that's about it. I'll try to capture some video of the track when I'm out there and let you know how it is.

On a bright note, this puts me on a little more of a level playing field since it will be everybody's first time seeing the track. They're all new to me!

I plan on going for this race. I can't find any information on the place at all either. I just typed in the address on the flyer into google maps and I see a motocross track nearby, but that's about it. I'll try to capture some video of the track when I'm out there and let you know how it is.

On a bright note, this puts me on a little more of a level playing field since it will be everybody's first time seeing the track. They're all new to me!

Awesome, and good luck!

__________________
Dirt is for riding, the street merely gets you there.

I plan on going for this race. I can't find any information on the place at all either. I just typed in the address on the flyer into google maps and I see a motocross track nearby, but that's about it. I'll try to capture some video of the track when I'm out there and let you know how it is.

On a bright note, this puts me on a little more of a level playing field since it will be everybody's first time seeing the track. They're all new to me!

This is a new place for TORCS, it's a new build facility also from what I understand.

It will primarily be an MX track property but, for the TORCS race, we will likely run up to 3/4 of MX track and the rest of the race will be in the woods. Luckily for all of us, it's a new venue to TORCS which to me means, no current ruts, the place isn't ruined from years past races like most of the courses, new trail for everyone, nobody will have the course or property memorized, we'll all be on an equal playing field as far as course knowledge, at least for Saturdays race.

I for one have no memory of any course unless there is an obvious landmark which doesn't do a whole lot for me anyway, for most others, memories work very well, this is where creative lines come into play, not cheat lines but, creative lines, these are mostly found and made by the more experienced riders, they will appear but not during practice, it happens during the races due to concealment.

I'm also used to racing Enduros, we don't do laps, we race up to 75 fresh miles of course per race, with that being said, every lap for me is a fresh new course lap. I've only ridden one TORCS this year due to running the NEPG for 2017 but, that only has 2 rounds to go and I have a mission goal of beating someone in Saturdays Vet 35 class and I'm going to try my best to do that next weekend.

If any of you need help with anything there, pointers, tips, etc. come find me and we'll talk, I'm a bit of a veteran at this stuff.

Look for the Cycle Shack North canopy and bike numbers 102, that's me/us!!

Heres a video of the MX track for next weekend, it looks pretty tame to me.

The rider here is Lane Rathman, he's a super fast MX kid that's raced Loretta Lynns outdoor nationals a few times, he's also new to the AA/Pro class at TORCS, we has been riding the A classes due to the AMA ruling for LL's.